Tetsushinkan (and related) Dojo Events

Inaba Sensei in Norway and Greece - August 2008

Inaba sensei and other teachers from the Shiseikan will be giving courses in the following places:

• Norway (2-8 August)
• Greece (11-17)

Inaba Sensei in France and Poland - August 2007

Inaba sensei and other teachers from the Shiseikan will be giving courses in France (4-11 August) and Poland (12-18) in August 2007.

For details of France including how to book etc, please see this web site.

For details of Poland, please contact Adam Radecki: aradecki@poczta.onet.pl

Paul Smith in Oslo 11 - 13 May 2007

Paul will be teaching at Tenshinkan in Oslo.

Times/locations:

Friday: 17.30-19.30 Tenshinkan dojo

Saturday: 09.00-11.00 og 14.00-17.00 OBS! I Bjølsen-hallen ( martial arts room in a sportshall in Moldegt.7 Oslo)

Sunday: 10.00-12.00 og 14.00-16.00 I Bjølsen-hallen (martial arts room in a sportshall in Moldegt.7 Oslo)

Kenjutsu Course 25 & 26 November 2006

Sat. 11.30am - 1.30pm & 3.30pm - 5.30pm
Sun. 10.30am - 1.30pm & 3.30pm - 5.30pm

Full course: £50 Per Session: £20

Open to anyone with a minimum of a working knowledge of Kashima Shinryu Kihondachi.

Course will be led by Paul Smith, 5th Dan Aikido. Paul has been studying and teaching Kashima Shinryu with Inaba Sensei for the past 15 years etc. Paul will be assisted by Robert Cowham, 4th Dan, and by other assistant instructors of Tetsushinkan.

Promotions in Wales 2006

There were various promotions at the summer course listed on the Events page.

Shodan:

• Christos Kyrkos
• Martin Abrahams
• Owain James

Nidan:

• Alan Saunders
• Craig Petersen
• Marko Harkonen

Yondan:

• Robert Cowham

Congratulations also to:

• Prodromos Asimacopoulos, Athens Dojo - Shodan
• Nicola Endicott, Head of Battersea Dojo - Nidan
• Jessica Loeb, Head of Natureworks Dojo - Sandan

Summer Course in Wales with Inaba Sensei: 19 - 26 August 2006

This was a major course for Tetushinkan and invited guests.

From the Shiseikan we had:

• Inaba sensei (8th dan)
• Endo San (6th dan)
• Okada San (6th dan)
• Udagawa San (6th dan)
• Nishitani San (6th dan)
• Mori San (Shinto priest from Meji Jingu shrine)

From Europe we had a variety of people from Norway, Germany, France, Greece and Spain, including the following teachers:

• Bjorn Eirik Olsen (6th dan), Norway
• Joel Roche (6th dan), France
• Pascal Durchon (5th dan), France
• Anita Kohler (4th dan), Germany

In total 65 people took part in the course. Taking place in Wales, near Cardigan, the course included activities such as canoeing and horse-riding, enjoying some of the local sites and country side, and plenty of cream teas!

Background to the 2006 Course

By Paul Smith

In 1992 Inaba Sensei selected about 10 Aikido practitioners from Europe and the USA to attend a course in Japan. The participants were selected with the advice of Sekiya Sensei, by then an instructor at The Shiseikan, who had travelled widely and perhaps knew more foreign practitioners than did Inaba Sensei at that time. Among those participating were Bjorn Eirik Olsen, Director of The Norwegian Aikido Federation, Elias Papathanasis, Head of Athens Dojo, and his wife, Aphrodite, myself and my partner, Sasha Roubicek.

The course took place over two weeks and was not restricted to The Dojo. We had a few days intensive training at The Shiseikan and were then taken to the beautiful countryside of Taneyamagahara in Iwate prefecture, stopping over night on the way at a traditional farm. We stayed on a camp site for 4 days with high school students and university students from Tokyo - many of them had not met westerners before and it was Inaba Sensei's intention to bring us all together to promote East/West understanding and appreciation. While on the camp we had talks from Onoda San, a veteran from the Pacific War, who had survived alone in the jungle for 30 years, refusing to surrender. We were also entertained with traditional Japanese drumming and dancing, were given rides in a hot air balloon and taken to a sento, a traditional Japanese bath house. On the return journey to Tokyo we stayed one night in a hot springs hotel and were treated to a relaxing dip in the spar and a delicious Korean banquet.

Whilst in Iwate we were taken to the Kenji Miyazawa Memorial Centre. Kenji Miyazawa, born 1896, was a geologist, poet, novelist and amateur astronomer, he set up a kind of inter-disciplinary centre in which artists and scientists came together, exchanging ideas and worked with the local community attempting to improve the lot of impoverished farmers. Kenji Miyazawa was also concerned about ecological issues believing that man needed to find a balance with the rest of nature. (It was the visit to this centre that inspired me, with the invaluable support of members of my dojo, to eventually set up movingeast - Inaba Sensei, accompanied by Endo San, led the ceremonial opening of movingeast in May 1999).

On returning to Tokyo we enjoyed a few more days of intensive practice, during which one of the American participants went a strange and rather alarming shade of green and nearly fell over!

Sasha and I returned home thoroughly inspired and decided, with no prior experience, to host a reciprocal course of a similar nature set in the Welsh countryside, where she had lived and where her mother still lived. So, in 1993, Inaba Sensei accepted our invitation and led a group of 50 participants in Budo Studies with a similar range of activities as those programmed for the course this year.

I think it is very clear to everyone who has had contact with Inaba Sensei that he does not see Budo as an activity limited to its practice in a dojo but a means by which to enrich, examine and inform the whole of our life. He also has a keen appreciation of nature and quite clearly fell in love with the countryside around Cilgeran. I wanted everyone to understand that the afternoon activities are not merely additional to the Budo course but an integral part of it. Cilgeran and the surrounding environs provide a rich historical, cultural and elemental setting within which to contextualise and enrich our Budo Studies. In the same spirit, within each of the 4 sites of accommodation, we have attempted to mix nationalities and dojos to create an opportunity for participants to get to know each other socially and to forge new friendships or to re-enforce old ones.

I hope this background and historical context will help you to understand the intention behind the course and will serve to enhance your enjoyment.

Kenjutsu Course - 26th - 28th November 2004

Intensive Course in Kashima Shinryu Kenjutsu - directed by Paul Smith (5th Dan Aikido). Guest Teacher Ms. Miki Fukutoku (6th Dan) from The Shiseikan Dojo, Tokyo (Friday & Saturday only).

Paul Sensei began his study of Kashima Shinryu Kenjutsu with Kanetsuka Sensei and then with Sekiya Sensei (in Yamaguchi Sensei's Shibuya dojo), when he visited Japan for the first time in 1988. Over the past 10 years Paul has been studying under Inaba Sensei, Head of The Shiseikan Dojo at The Meiji Jingu, Tokyo. In May 1999 Inaba Sensei conducted a formal opening ceremony of Tetsushinkan's new dojo at movingeast.

Kashima Shinryu Kenjutsu is practiced on a regular basis in Tetsushinkan and is an integral part of the study of Nihon Budo undertaken at the dojo.

Fukutoku Sensei has been studying Aikido and Kashima Shinryu at The Shiseikan dojo for 30 years (she started early!). Fukutoku Sensei assists Inaba Sensei in teaching and has taken part in numerous demonstrations with him at The Meiji Jingu. This is her first visit to Tetsushinkan Dojo.

Visitors from other dojos are welcome but must have at least a basic understanding of sword work of some nature.

The course is for those with some experience of Kashima Shinryu or other sword forms such as Aikiken. We will teach and practice the Kumitachi (paired kata).

Fees

2nd June 2004 - New Shodans

Congratulations to the new shodans from this exam: Alan, Craig, Kerry and Miles.

August 15 - 24 2003 - Tetsushinkan Summer Course

We were delighted to welcome visiting teachers from the Shiseikan in Tokyo: Mrs Okada and Mr Watanabe and Mr Horishita. Okada sensei and Watanabe sensei are both 6th dan and have studied with Inaba sensei for over 20 years, and Horishita san for about 10 years. Paul Smith also taught.

This course included kenjutsu and aikido.

Okada sensei	Watanabe sensei	Horishita san

The course was open to members of other dojos.

Tsuki defence - Watanabe sensei and Stan

Ikkyo - Watanabe sensei and Stan

The course was well attended and very inspiring to all. Reviews will be posted shortly.

The following people have been recommended for shodan following the examination during the course:

Congratulations!

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